A little dance can go a long way

This Monday Morning a large group of staff members performed a dance for the IAA community. The song we danced to sang the line, “we fight with nobody, we respect everybody.”  We danced to express these ideas to our students.We don’t ask our students to do anything we ourselves as educators wouldn’t do.  We constantly collaborate, negotiate and navigate our ideas with each other. We reflect on our practice and make improvements and adjustments to better ourselves and our community.  The dance today was a metaphor for these skills.  We had to compromise, reassess and work collaboratively to create a final product.  Our dancing also demonstrated that we can’t do these things alone.  We had a parent, Lois Trombley, lead us and facilitate the artistic process.  We all need help and its important students see us relying on each other.  

Today students saw a group of educators having fun, learning and working with each other and building a positive community.  They look to us for these things all the time, not just when we are on stage.  The quiet conversations we have with a colleague, the collaborative teaching we do, how we interact with our students; kids are always watching.  It is important students learn the prescribed curricular standards.  But just as important are the skills they learn from watching us work.   It is through our example that they will incorporate these tenets into their own lives. I feel so lucky to work in an environment where the professional community gives so much effort to give the students these skills in a variety of ways and always with love and laughter.


Artfully,                                                                                                    
Mr. Bobby